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Northern Ireland Assembly Members Bill [Lords]

I shall be very brief. I am much encouraged by the speeches made by the hon. Members for South Antrim (Dr. McCrea) and for Foyle (Mark Durkan). I know that the latter understands what is at stake, but I got the slight impression—which the hon. Member for South Antrim also picked up—that he might come back through the back door, courtesy of the most extraordinary amendment that was passed some years ago that meant that Members of this House could also be in the Dublin Parliament—the Oireachtas, as I think that we now have to call it. That raises one curious anomaly with the dual mandate, but there is another that I want to describe very briefly. It has to do with whether legislative power lies with the devolved Assembly in Northern Ireland. That is still developing and evolving: we are moving towards much greater devolution and even independence, but we are doing so without having regard to where the money comes from. That is another factor that we shall need to consider, as we had to do post-1997 in relation to Scotland. The British taxpayer is also the source of money that spills into all parts of the island of Ireland—north or south—from our net contribution to the European Union. It would be remiss of me not to mention that subject, because it raises the question of the relationship between taxation, responsibility and democracy. If the moneys are provided through research, grant in aid, assisted area status and redevelopment grants, a question arises about what the United Kingdom is being expected to do. Members of this Parliament, who represent the taxpayers of the constituencies to which we are about to return, are in effect paying a lot of moneys for important functions that are being devolved in a modern world. I leave the House with this thought. There is more and more movement towards greater and greater degrees of responsibility. It is called devolution, but the relationship between responsibility and taxation is important, so there is a constitutional issue at its heart. It is well known that I am great supporter of those in Northern Ireland, and I am conscious of the fact that our taxpayers have to bear the costs of whatever emerges from the EU and is then paid back to us. In that context, the Bill is important because it is obviously something of which Members of the Northern Ireland legislature approve, so I am concerned that we have a coherent structure. Nothing is perfect and nothing can be resolved simply by writing down words—it is a question of the manner in which people come to believe that they can exercise authority through the rule of law in the appropriate manner. I do not want to make too much of a meal of this: I simply believe that we are moving inexorably towards a greater degree not merely of devolution but of political responsibility. Question put and agreed to. Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed, without amendment.